Dr. Gary Danchak

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Acupuncture and Herbs for Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss

Acupuncture and Herbs for
Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss

If you weren’t born with the metabolism of a Chihuahua, chances are you’ve managed to pack on a few extra pounds of winter weight by now. And if you’re like most people, you were probably already carrying a few extra pounds to begin with.

So, if you haven’t totally given up on swimsuit season, you can either re-visit the usual suspects—barbells and jogging, aerobics and that delicious half stalk of celery for dinner every stomach-grumbling night until summer—or you can use the holistic system of Chinese Medicine to get it right once and for all.

Acupuncture reduces cravings (and is widely recognized as an effective treatment for all kinds of addictions) and begins the energetic process of draining damp (fat) from the system. An herbal formula custom-tailored to the specific case (it’s not one-size-fits-all) continues and supports the process begun by the acupuncture treatment.

Damp is an internal pathogen (cause by diet, stress and/or genetic factors) that exists in a range of density in the body. At one end of the spectrum lies subsbluetial damp—visible heavy fat; at the other end of the spectrum lies insubsbluetial damp—less dense but equally pernicious, that rises to the head and causes foggy thinking. The good news is that both are reduced as acupuncture and herbs drain damp and reinvigorate the spleen, and patients report feeling more clear-headed as they continue treatment.

Is it a magic bullet? No, it’s not liposuction or amphetamines or stomach banding. It’s not a passive approach to weight loss. Chinese Medicine is participatory medicine. If you show up for treatments and take your herbs, make dietary changes and get some exercise, a weight loss program with the assisbluece of Chinese Medicine is more palatable (fewer cravings), quicker (herbs and acupuncture boost metabolism and spleen efficiency), and more likely to succeed because you simply feel better while you’re doing it.

Also treatable with Chinese Medicine:

High Cholesterol: a dense form of excess substantial damp can be reduced with acupuncture and herbs.

Low Thyroid function: usually presents as yang deficiency of the kidney. This energy can be replenished by herbs and acupuncture; metabolism speeds up and people are better able to control their weight.

Excess Appetite: untreated damp in a system frequently leads to heat, which builds up when qi that is meant to flow becomes stagnated by damp. Heat then congeals the existing damp into phlegm, which is harder to drain than simple damp. This internally generated heat then invades the stomach, causing one’s appetite to increase, thus perpetuating the cycle of weight gain. Draining stomach fire eliminates excess appetite.

Not surprisingly, the people who achieve the best results are the ones who are motivated, not passive; people who put less damp back into their system between treatments; people who take their herbs. The result? Happier, healthier people who eagerly embrace swimsuit season.